On May 4th, 2016, the anniversary date of an infamous Vatican decreeauthorizing the spoliation of indigenous lands and peoples worldwide, elevenindigenous leaders from around the world arrived in St Peter’s Square underthe banner of the Long March to Rome, a movement seeking revocation ofthree Papal Bulls because:(i) they were the “blueprint” for conquest of the New World;(ii) they provided moral justification for the enslavement and conquestof indigenous peoples worldwide;(iii) they are an ongoing violation of contemporary Human Rightslegislation; and,(iv) other communities currently struggling to save their lands arethreatened by modern-day ideologies of inequality anchored in thepapal bulls.

These eleven leaders had landed on the shores of Europe one week earlier,and convened at a historic Gathering of Nations held in Florence Italy todiscuss the issue of the Papal Bulls. The leaders were determined to tellPope Francis that it was time for the Vatican to own up to its responsibility forlegitimizing a genocide committed against indigenous peoples and to show itsgood faith by revoking three Papal Bulls of Discovery: Dum Diversas (1452),Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493), still in force today.

Coming from many Nations, they carried the weight of 370 million IndigenousPeoples on their shoulders.

The delegation represented the Haudenosaunee, also known as the SixNations Iroquois Confederacy, the Assembly of First Nations Canada,representing 634 First Nations from across Canada with 1.4 million citizensfrom 58 different Indigenous nations, Canada’s Truth and ReconciliationCommission, the Umatilla confederacy of the Pacific Northwest, the Yakama,Oglala Sioux, Shawnee, Mapuche, Navajo Diné and Apache Ndee.

When Pope Francis’ handlers informed them that the Holy Father could onlymeet five of them, as a body, they refused. It was “everybody or nobody” saidChief David Close, Cayuse Chief and Delegation lead. One by one, theyapproached Pope Francis, each delivering the message in their own way, thatPope Francis should rescind the Papal Bulls.

After the Papal audience, they immediately boarded several taxis, andcrossed Rome to the offices of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace atPiazza San Calisto for a high-level meeting with Vatican heavyweightArchbishop Silvano Tomasi.

During the head-to-head, Archbishop Tomasi acknowledged that the Vaticanmay have to consider issuing a statement and maybe even an apology.Revocation is on the table. Everyone agreed during the meeting that talksshould go forward.

For indigenous leaders, this engagement is significant. After five hundredyears, the Vatican has finally recognized that the issue of the Papal Bulls ofDiscovery is one that can no longer be ignored.